XDCAM EX1 on the road blog

[Eric Pascarelli]

Mike,

There is no pulldown the EX1 for 24p in the HQ mode, recorded to SxS card (the mode you most certainly would want to use if you are outputting to film).

The camera records a pure 24 frames (actually 23.976, but let's not get nitpicky) per second to the card - no pulldown.

"Advanced" or "standard" would only apply to a camera that was trying to shoehorn 24p into an existing 29.97 fps video format, such as DV tape.

[Phil Bloom]

My bandwith is getting used up again! My site will be down again in a couple of days at this rate! Just to warn anyone if they see it disappears again!

[Gabriel Florit]

Hey Phil,

Thanks for donating your time and effort in sharing all your XDCAMEX experiences with us. It's definitely useful - I've been reading your blog avidly and will be buying the camera (and some of the lenses you suggested) next year.

Cheers!

ps. I live in Alaska, my parents live in Lochcarron, close to the Isle of Skye. How close is that to the Protestant's family's place?

[Mike Marriage]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Knit-picking is never a good idea on this site.

The minimal difference between 1080p and 2K is so utterly inconsequential that they may as well be synonymous terms, and for all practical purposes they are, as far as we're concerned here. Hope this helps,

I actually think it is important to use the correct terminology. Small differences can lead to very large, costly mistakes. I've seen a whole film have to be re-telecined because of a mix up with 24 fps and 25 fps. 2K is technically different to 1920x1080 and should always be denoted as such even if the visual difference is inconsequential.

In this circumstance it might not matter but there are plenty of occasions when it will.

[Eric Pascarelli]

Agreed - there is a negligible quality difference between HD and 2k, and no difference in terms of the discussion here.

But a big difference between the two standards which can lead to costly mistakes (when digitizing film for example) is aspect ratio. 2k is considered to be a 1.33 aspect ratio format (2048x1536) whereas 1920 is, of course, 1.78.

But let's not get too far off-topic.

[Chris Hurd]

For Mike and Eric -- excellent points all around; thanks. Back we go to Phil's original topic. Much appreciated,

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Eric Pascarelli

Mike,

There is no pulldown the EX1 for 24p in the HQ mode, recorded to SxS card (the mode you most certainly would want to use if you are outputting to film).

The camera records a pure 24 frames (actually 23.976, but let's not get nitpicky) per second to the card - no pulldown.

"Advanced" or "standard" would only apply to a camera that was trying to shoehorn 24p into an existing 29.97 fps video format, such as DV tape.

Great! That's what I was hoping to hear. Many thanks.

[Sami Sanpakkila]

Hi,

I have been really blown away by the short Piccadilly Furs that you shot Phil. After seeing this I had absolutely no doubts about my order of both the EX1 and the 35mm adapter :) So thank you!

Im used to working on film and haven't done much color correction (except sitting next to a guy and telling him what I want) in telecine transfers. So I know what I want things to look like. But my understanding is very limited in how to acchieve it in the digital world.

What Im interested in is how do you get the highligts, the overexposed parts to look so good? Is it just Magic Bullet or what?

I noticed that on only one shot in Piccadilly Furs you can see the kind of "bad overexposure" you see so much on tv and digital video. It's the shot just before the middle where Lou goes "Severin, severin awaits you there" that has the afro-american guy reading papers and on the background you see a blonde haired woman in a white fluffy coat. This to me has that video quality overexposed feeling.

I exported a still image to Photoshop and the rgb values are 235,235,235. Cause I first thought that maybe the idea is not to use extreme whites, more like values 234 and so on. But looking at every other overexposed images in Piccadilly Furs I see they also have values of 235,235,235 and they look amazing.

Sorry for the long post and if this seems very obvious to people. Im really keen on learning the art and would really appreaciate answers from anyone.

Thanks!!

Sami

[Phil Bloom]

Originally Posted by Gabriel Florit

Hey Phil,

Thanks for donating your time and effort in sharing all your XDCAMEX experiences with us. It's definitely useful - I've been reading your blog avidly and will be buying the camera (and some of the lenses you suggested) next year.

Cheers!

ps. I live in Alaska, my parents live in Lochcarron, close to the Isle of Skye. How close is that to the Protestant's family's place?

Not that far I don't think. My bandwidth has gone again! So apologies for the downtime. It will be five days before I am allowed to put it up again.

[Phil Bloom]

Originally Posted by Sami Sanpakkila

Hi,

I have been really blown away by the short Piccadilly Furs that you shot Phil. After seeing this I had absolutely no doubts about my order of both the EX1 and the 35mm adapter :) So thank you!

Im used to working on film and haven't done much color correction (except sitting next to a guy and telling him what I want) in telecine transfers. So I know what I want things to look like. But my understanding is very limited in how to acchieve it in the digital world.

What Im interested in is how do you get the highligts, the overexposed parts to look so good? Is it just Magic Bullet or what?

I noticed that on only one shot in Piccadilly Furs you can see the kind of "bad overexposure" you see so much on tv and digital video. It's the shot just before the middle where Lou goes "Severin, severin awaits you there" that has the afro-american guy reading papers and on the background you see a blonde haired woman in a white fluffy coat. This to me has that video quality overexposed feeling.

I exported a still image to Photoshop and the rgb values are 235,235,235. Cause I first thought that maybe the idea is not to use extreme whites, more like values 234 and so on. But looking at every other overexposed images in Piccadilly Furs I see they also have values of 235,235,235 and they look amazing.

Sorry for the long post and if this seems very obvious to people. Im really keen on learning the art and would really appreaciate answers from anyone.

Thanks!!

Sami

Not so sure about all the technical details. To be honest what I do is very untechnical. I see an image, I shoot it and make it look as good to my eye in the viewfinder/ lcd as I can. A lot of it is second nature, but this was my first play with the ex1 so I had no idea how it would turn out. Magic Bullet looks helps a lot with perfecting the look.

I tend to always underexpose by half a stop. That gives me more options in post.

[Paul Nevison]

Hey Phil,

first of all your work is great, obviously great shots, but also great sense of timing and pace to your cuts.

I had a question regarding the grade on the protestant story. did you add a blur gradient/vingette around some of the shots to 'fake" shallow DOF? I recall you saying you shot it without your 35mm adapter...so wondered if this was how you generated it in post to direct attention in the frame.

I hope Sony and Letus are hooking you up....your work is a strong case for what can be achieved when mixing talent with their products.

hope your site is back online again soon....your blog is very interesting reading.

[Phil Bloom]

Cheers Paul

Nothing from Sony! Letus have been brilliant with customer service with me when I broke my extreme. Got a replacement to me within two days! I now have a backup one, so have two!

I used swing/ tilt and edge focus in magic bullet to create the mock shallow DOF. A very very effective tool.

Thanks also for kind comments, I often get comments about the shots but it's rare to get comments on the editing, something which is often overlooked. It is as much my passion as shooting.

My blog isn't updated but got it back up!

[Phil Bloom]

http://www.philipbloom.co.uk/Philip_...14_Blog_5.html

You can see it as part of my blog. It's called "Kew Gardens in Winter"

Shot using the EX1 and Letus Extreme with loads of lenses!

[Michael Rehfield]

Inspiring stuff, Philip, as I've come to expect. Can't wait for more.

[Phil Bloom]

Thank you. I love going out and just filming these little things. It's all in my own time but the end results make it worthwhile and London has so many rich places to film.